At last, good news has come. Nanao was speaking to those on the D.E.C. through telepathy. She claims that she found a way to stop the weapon.
"Can you repeat that? Have you really found a way to stop the cannon?" Harribel said.
"Nanao, where are you right now?" Muramasa asked.
"I'm a lot closer than you think. Everyone one of us that got left behind are doing what we can to slow it down." She spoke the truth. Rukia, Uryu, and everyone else was able to catch up to the D.E.C. and they were all using whatever they could to try and slow it down and kept attacking it. "We might be a rag team, but certainly work well together. We've also informed everyone in Magnolia and the evacuation process is going as we speak."
"That's good to hear. Hopefully they'll be no casualties." Erza said.
"Nanao, are you certain that you found a way to stop the Dragon Extinction Cannon?" Shunsui asked.
"Too bad I'm not going to allow it to happen." The finale with the battle against Ten Rave is dropping down to the conclusion.
"Seven"
"Who's voice was that? Did someone just hijack my telepathy?" All of them looked down the street and saw Dusk was able to catch up to all of them.
"No. It's him." Orihime said. "Where's Ichigo? Dusk, what have you done to him?"
"If he hasn't yet, he'll be six feet under soon enough." Dusk said.
"No way. There's no way you could have beaten Ichigo so easily." Natsu said.
"But I did and you all will be next." Dusk said. He shot a dark blast at all of them and the explosion blew them all around. "I'll destroy all of you and watch as Fairy Tail's beloved city is destroyed."
"Ichigo, where are you?" Orihime whispered. "We need your help." Dusk walked over to her as he decided Orihime will be the first to go.
"I'm afraid he won't be joining us, but don't worry. You'll be joining him in the afterlife soon enough." Dusk said.
"Ichigo." Orihime whispered and those whispers were traveling to Ichigo. His body was where it remained, but somehow he heard her. His fingers twitched indicating he was alive.
"I just said that he's gone." Dusk said as he lifted Orihime by the neck and had her off the ground.
"Let go of her!" Natsu said as he went to attack with a flaming fist. However, Dusk held Orihime to him like he would use a shield. Natsu had no choice, but to stop his attack. Dusk used his spare hand and blasted Natsu.
"Using someone like a shield? You're a coward." Muramasa said.
"What you call cowardly, I call smart strategy. I take great amusement in the torture of others and I have no exceptions." Dusk said and continued his onslaught against all of them and none of them could fight back because he used Orihime like a shield.
"Ichigo, please, we need your help. Ichigo!" Orihime called out, but Ichigo was barely moving. He was just twitching his body. Ichigo took a deep breath and tried eating up the night air. Back with the fight, Dusk heard Orihime continue to ask for Ichigo's help and tightened his grip on her.
"Foolish girl." Dusk said and tossed her to the ground. Orihime groaned in pain and that was the last push. Ichigo slammed his fist against the wall and the look on his face says that Dusk is going to pay for beating him down like that and he could hear that he was hurting Orihime. "If you want to be with him so badly, I'll help you." He held up his spare hand as he used his other to keep him pinned down.
"You bastard!" Natsu shouted.
"Stop! Don't kill her!" Erza called out.
"Any last words before you reach the grave?" Dusk said.
"You should be saying yours!" Dusk didn't think he would hear that voice again. He looked above him and saw Ichigo was back on his feet and he came out of nowhere.
"Where did he come from?" Dusk said, but was met with a fist to his face and shoved right into the ground and got Orihime free. Ichigo grabbed Dusk by the leg and tossed him up to the rooftops.
"Ichigo, I knew you were still alive." Orihime said as she was so happy.
"This guy is done for!" Ichgio said as he went after Dusk. Dusk got back up and Ichigo was faced against him.
"So you're still alive. This time, I'll make sure to finish the job." Dusk said and the two of them had their magic clash against each other.
"Is everyone okay? What is going on?"
"We're all fine, Nanao." Harribel said. "Tell us what you were saying earlier. Have you really found a way to stop the D.E.C.?"
"Yes. You're all right where we need to be. At the top of the tower in the center are seven obelisks. Those act like conductors to control the magic power that flows through the cannon. If all seven are destroyed, all the magic will build up in an instant and cause the cannon to malfunction."
"Sounds simple enough. We just need to destroy all of them and that will be done." Natsu stated.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. All seven have to be destroyed at the same time or else the remaining ones will just cause it to regenerate. All seven are also incredibly dense that it's going to take all the power a wizard has just to destroy one."
"So we need to destroy all seven at the same time, but it takes so much power just to destroy one?" Muramasa said as he tried to make sure he had this right.
"But I'm afraid you're the only ones that can do it. None of us can find a point of access to get in and we're using a lot of magic power to try and slow it down."
"It's just the same as when we brought down Nirvana." Erza said. "Now that we know what to do, let's get up there and stop this thing."
"What about Hachi?" Orihime asked.
"He'll be fine. Dusk is the only threat and Ichigo can handle him." Nel said. Orihime knew she was right as she made her way up with everyone else. She just needed to believe Ichigo can win. Ichigo and Dusk continued to fight against each other as they moved from one rooftop to the next.
"Night Spirit's Reap Slash!" Ichigo tried to slash against Dusk, but Dusk grabbed Ichigo's arm and pushed back.
"It's too late. You're almost out of time." Dusk said. He looked over and Ichigo saw it. Magnolia was finally in view. "In just another five minutes, the cannon will power up and fire. All of Magnolia will be destroyed."
"We'll stop it. That's five minutes we have to shut this thing down and that's more than enough time." Ichigo said. He tried to karate chop from the side, but Dusk bent back enough to avoid it.
"It's hopeless. You lost!" Dusk said as he kicked Ichigo back. "There seems to be one crucial fact that you've overlooked." Everyone made it to the top of the tower and found the obelisks Nanao was talking about.
"Alright, everyone pick one and let's smash these things." Erza said as they lined up with one, but Orihime noticed something was wrong.
"Everyone, wait. We only have six people available." Orihime said. All of them just realized that. There are seven obelisks, but only six wizards.
"No. We need to destroy all seven at the same time." Nel said. They need just one more, but there wasn't an available wizard and it takes a wizard's full power to destroy just one and Dusk saw the problem.
"You've failed. You need seven wizards, but you only have six." Dusk said. "None of your other friends can help you and even if they could, they probably don't have enough magic power."
"No there's still one more and she has all of her magic power." Ichigo said. Dusk didn't understand until Ichigo held up the two hairpins. Dusk was surprised. He looked towards his vest and saw they were really in Ichigo's hands and not in his vest.
"When did he…" Dusk wondered until it hit him. When Ichigo did that karate chop, Ichigo reached for the vest and pulled the both of them out. 'That had to have been when he did it. He wasn't going for an attack. He was reaching for the hairpins.'
"Don't go away. I'll be right back." Ichigo said as he used his magic around his feet to give him a boost in his jump.
"I won't let you!" Dusk said as he did the same thing and went after Ichigo. Everyone was wondering what they're going to do. They need just one more wizard, but there wasn't anyone around and they're almost out of time.
"We need just one more, but Hachi is unconscious, Ichigo is too busy fighting, and we only have a few minutes left." Nel said.
"The answer is somewhere. We just need to put our heads together and think." Muramasa said. Ichigo climbed his way up to the tower until he reached the top.
"Orihime!" Ichigo shouted as he made it to the top and got everyone's attention. "Catch!" He tossed the hairpins and Orihime was able to catch them.
"My hairpins!" Orihime said.
"You be the seventh, Orihime. I know you can do it." Ichigo said.
"No you won't!" Dusk shouted as he had more power and tackled Ichigo in midair. "You won't stop this."
"Quit getting in the way!" Ichigo said as he kicked Dusk off and pounded him back down with Ichigo following. "I'll finish him. Just hurry and take down those obelisks." Ichigo and Dusk dropped to the ground as the two of them kept pounding against each other.
"Ichigo's right." Orihime said as her confidence started rising. "I CAN do this." She placed her hairpins back where they belong and her magic power was back."
"Excellent." Harribel said.
"We have our seven wizards. Time to end this." Erza said. All of them faced their obelisk and Orihime went to the last one that was available. All of them were building up magic power as they were using all the power all of them had left. While at the same time, Ichigo was doing everything he can to make sure Dusk doesn't get in the way.
"You're not giving up? You think you can win?" Dusk said.
"I think we already have." Ichigo said.
"We'll see about that. It's going to take a lot of magic power to bring those obelisks down and the cannon's getting ready to fire." Dusk said and he was speaking the truth. The D.E.C. stopped it's march and the hole at the front was lighting up and starting to store power. "In just another minute or two, the cannon will fire and that will be all she wrote. The era of Fairy Tail might have been grand, but this is where it ends. It's over."
"It will be over…for you." Ichigo said. Everyone was gathering their own power. This is there last chance and they are down to their last minute. Whether or not it works, this will be the end for someone.
….
Orihime: Ichigo, do you have anything so precious to you that you couldn't live without.
Ichigo: Not really. Those hairpins of yours must mean a lot to you.
Orihime: They do. I wouldn't know what I do if I was to ever lose them.
Ichigo: I can understand that. There are lots of members in our guild that have an item that's precious to them like Natsu's scarf or Lucy's celestial keys. That's why you got to take extra care of them.
Orihime/Ichigo: Next time: My Special Item
Orihime: So you really don't have anything that means so much to you?
Ichigo: Nope.